relatives

Oh yes, it can happen, there can be one or more ancestors of your direct lineage of your family tree where you can not locate any document or vital records (a paper trail) to support or learn more about that ancestor. Very frustrating for sure!!
Here are some ideas of how to gather some information on that ancestor.
First check and do the researc...

On July 26th is National Aunt and Uncle Day. What a good time to honor and take the time to learn more about your own aunt and uncle, no matter what age they are. A reminder, an aunt is the sister to your own mother or father and an uncle is the brother to you father. If you have a great aunt or great uncle - they would be the siblings to your gran...

That is the wonderful part of having cousins, even second cousins, you share common ancestors. With the date of July 24th, it is a good day to recognize your cousins as great family members and the shared heritage.
First cousins are the children of your aunts and uncles (your parents' siblings). Second cousins would be the children of your great a...

You might say no one is interested in any family stories ... well you are mistaken. Look at it this way, what if you located a journal, diary or letters written by your great grandfather from the 1890s? Would you not be very excited to read his own words on events and people in his life?
So keep looking for anything written by ancestors, but remem...

In 2017, National Teacher Day is May 9th. It is the Tuesday of the first full week of May.
Teachers certainly are among the most deserving individuals over the decades. This day honors those hard working, patient and understanding people whom we entrust our children to. Teachers mold our kids in a positive direction, affecting who they are and who...

Who doesn't have a stack of vintage unlabeled photos? You need some ideas to assist labeling who, when and where in the image.
Take each one and exam it carefully. You just might then notice a certain physical family characteristic. Compare with known images of relatives. I did just that when I located a photo of my father when he was 9 years old....

On April 10th is recognized as 'Sibling Day'. The learning of who were the siblings for each of your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents is an important aspect of researching your family tree.
Not only do you want to celebrate having any siblings and how you all grew up together, but it is important to know more about the siblings your relat...

Have you ever wondered if you have found the answers to every aspect of an ancestor's life or even for sure the life story of a living relative? Did you forget anything? Well in this PDF form (family-history-questionnaire) is a questionnaire (you can download it and print it) that will cover just about every aspect of an individual and or family's ...

There are many Italian immigrates who came to America all during the late 1800s and into the 1900s. There may well be family branches still living in Italy, that would be fun to locate.
A good starting point in research relating to databases for Italy is the free FamilySearch.org on the nation of Italy. Here there are some 42 different dat...

As you work on your family tree, you know it covers your direct lineage. However, there are aunts-uncles and especially cousins to consider. Using this chart done by Alice J. Ramsey in 1987 might help make it clearer of who would be a cousin, or a 2nd cousin or a 3rd cousin twice removed.
Again always start with yourself, then a parent, and next t...